In the Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication network, user equipment (UE) can only transmit one physical uplink control channel or data channel at a time. However, in the proposed LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) communication system, with aggregate carriers and/or physical channels, simultaneous transmission on multiple carrier and/or channels is supported. In addition, in LTE-A, UEs can also transmit control and data channels simultaneously on the same carrier.
Referring to FIG. 1, two aggregate uplink carriers are shown in a LTE-A communication system, for example. Data channels and control channels are also represented. Since a UE can simultaneously transmit on both uplink carrier 1 and uplink carrier 2, the UE can send both control information and data at the same time. For these transmissions, the UE determines the transmit power for each channel based on known formulas that are specified by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). However, in case of UE power limitation (i.e. the maximum UE transmission power is reached), there is currently no defined procedure for UE power control in LTE-A.
What is needed is a power scaling procedure for channel aggregation in the case of UE power limitation. It would also be of benefit if this procedure could be network-based.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are typically not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention.